2.27.2012

burger king customer referred to as "chinito" on receipt

All right. First, I have to note that this from a Korean news source, so I'm not getting the full translated details. But I think the image above makes it pretty clear what this is about. Yet another one of these damn receipts, this time from a Burger King restaurant in Los Angeles.

This was reportedly given to a customer during a recent lunchtime visit to the location at Vermont and Washington. As you can see, someone hand-wrote "chinitos" on the receipt -- presumably an employee referring to 45-year-old customer Steven Sohn, who is Korean American.

I know a lot of people took issue with New York Assemblywoman Grace Meng's objection to being referred to as "la china" at Boston Market, saying that she overreacted to simply being referred as "Chinese woman" in Spanish.

Maybe it isn't the same as being labeled "lady chinky eyes," but there's got to be a better way than this to identify a Burger King customer. I'm not calling for heads to roll -- I'm sympathetic to people having to work shitty minimum wage jobs --- but there's got to be some re-education.

In this case, is this not pejorative? Is it just Asian folks, or do all patrons receive a handwritten, racially-customized receipt for their transaction? Is this is proper procedure at Burger King? Probably not.

Or maybe "chinitos" is just a new style of Whopper that I'm unaware of. (Thanks, Tony.)